KEISSER: Chevy engine the pits at LBGP

The news that Chevrolet felt the need to pull the engines from all 11 of its cars for Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach sent some lips a buzzing Thursday when the media assembled for the annual meet-and-greet with race dignitaries and drivers.

Some of those lips weren't too familiar with racing.

"So what will they use to drive the cars Sunday?" one TV reporter asked a driver urgently. The driver kindly said that they're getting replacements.

Oh. Having once needed a tow truck driver to point out the dipstick in a car once, I felt the reporter's pain.

Call it progress. The desire to jump-start IndyCar's return to prominence led the group to re-introduce competition among engine makers for 2012, and Chevy, Honda and Lotus are all dithering with their engines to find the right fit for their drivers. And since safety is a concern, Chevy decided to yank the engines from all of its cars when James Hinchcliffe's engine blew on a test run this week.

Hamilton Motorsports) and Takuma Sato (Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan) - may have a bit of an edge Sunday.

More changes could be coming engine-wise for IndyCar and its annual tour through the streets of Long Beach. The reports that Ford is considering a return to IndyCar are true.

Rahal, one of the most well-liked drivers in open-wheel racing and notable here for finishing second four times, set up a recent meeting between Ford execs and IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard that could lead the automaker to expand its racing division.

This would be epic, Ali vs. Frazier epic. Ford and Chevy back on ovals and streets. Roger Penske switched engines for his NASCAR teams to Ford for 2012, which makes the prospect even more credible.

The 2012 race marks the first time Rahal-Letterman has a Grand Prix entry since 2003, when its driver, Michael Jourdain, won the pole. Like a lot of race teams, Rahal and friends left for the Indy Racing League to pursue the Indy 500 dream, a move that never bore much fruit.

Rahal's son Graham, however, launched his open-wheel career in Long Beach, and the team had entries several years since 2003 in the ancillary races.

Sato, the veteran driver from Japan who now lives full-time in Monaco, moved to Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan this season from KV Racing and is eager to bring the race team back to the winner's circle.

"Of all of the race teams, Bobby Rahal is one of the few who knows what it took to win races back in the old days," he said underneath a tree at the Tecate tent inside the course. "It's a small team and we can devote all of our attention to the one car."

Mechanical problems cost the team in the season's first two races but Sato said he can be successful once he can stay on the track.

"The engine is very good," he said. "The new engines have more down force and the braking power is very hard, a real commitment, and that's something I like in racing."

Sato was born and raised in Japan but left when he was 20 so he could find a better racing environment. He was a little behind other racers his age but earned a scholarship to a racing school, and by the time he was 21 he was racing F3s in England. He raced in F1 for seven years before moving his career to the U.S.

"I like Monaco," he said. "The weather is a lot like Los Angeles. The only problem is that I still don't know how to speak French."

The Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race on Saturday is more than just a reason for actors, athletes and others to get into a high-performance vehicle and see how long it takes to crash on a hairpin turn.

There has been a charity aspect of the race since 1990, when Robbie Buhl created a cars-for-kids program to benefit local children's hospitals. Two local hospitals will benefit in 2012, the Children's Hospital of Orange County and the Long Beach Memorial Children's Hospital. Each will get a $25,000 check from Toyota.

The ancillary races that are part of Grand Prix weekend never get as much exposure, yet they stand on their own as a vital part of the racing community. The American LeMans Series race this weekend even has its own Grand Marshal - Clay Matthews, the former Trojan and current Green Bay Packers linebacker.

Mike Hull, the managing director for Target Chip Ganassi racing, did a very nice summary of what Long Beach offers:

"What it offers is uneven concrete and asphalt surfaces that affect braking on the initial turn-in, concrete barriers that always seem to be at a 90-degree angle to the drivers, a massive straightaway and a narrow pit lane. It has everything except operational crosswalks and traffic lights."